Strive Network Managing Director Jeff Edmondson to discuss ‘collective impact’ at national Points of Light conference in Chicago today

CINCINNATI -- (June 19, 2025) -- Strive Network Managing Director Jeff Edmondson today will join U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, CNN Anchor and Correspondent Soledad O’Brien and other education leaders to address how public service and volunteerism can help influence education in the United States.

Sponsored by Points of Light, the 2012 National Conference on Volunteering and Service in Chicago is the world's largest gathering of volunteer and service leaders from the nonprofit, corporate and government sectors. More than 5,000 guests are expected to attend the conference, which began Monday and ends Wednesday.

Edmondson, part of a 90-minute session titled “Celebrating the Power of Service in Education,” will talk about Strive’s “collective impact” approach and discuss ways citizens can volunteer to help influence education outcomes for children in their communities by focusing on strategies that work.

Edmondson, who began his career as a Habitat for Humanity and Peace Corps volunteer, is now expanding the Strive Network’s cradle to career approach nationwide. Communities in more than 20 states have expressed a desire to replicate the approach. Successful implementations are under way in Boston, Portland, Houston, Richmond, Va.; East Bay, California, and multiple other sites.

Strive’s national work is rooted in the success of a collaborative, cradle-to-career partnership in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, founded in 2006 known as the Strive Partnership. Consisting of more than 300 civic groups, businesses, nonprofits, colleges, public agencies, and philanthropies, the partnership has helped the region improve outcomes across the full education continuum.

In addition to Edmondson, Duncan and O’Brien, who is serving as moderator on the education session, other speakers at the event include Wendy Spencer, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service; Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, Miami-Dade County Public Schools; Laysha Ward, President of Target Community Relations; and David Rojas, 2009 Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago Youth of the Year.

The event can be followed on Twitter by following @NCVS and #NCVS. Portions of the event will be streamed live athttp://pointsoflight.org.

Founded in 2011, the Strive Network works with communities nationwide to help create a civic infrastructure to unite stakeholders around shared goals, measures, and results in education, supporting the success of every child, cradle to career. Its national work is rooted in the success of the Strive Partnership, a cradle-to-career initiative in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, founded in 2006.

KnowledgeWorks is bringing the future of learning to America’s high schools and creating widespread, lasting change in the communities and states we serve. Our portfolio of high school approaches includes New Tech Network high schools, andEDWorks Fast Track, New Start and STEMLAB high schools.